Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Orange Cake

Here is a quick, easy-to-follow Orange Cake Recipe. It is filled with the delicious goodness of the fresh fruit. The orange-butter frosting is optional but will definitely add to the citrusy flavor and sweetness of the cake. The recipe is also great for cupcakes or even for a loaf.


Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup fresh milk
1/2 cup freshly-squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons grated orange zest

For the frosting (optional):
6 tablespoons butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C. Grease the baking pan.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine milk, orange juice, vegetable oil, beaten eggs and orange zest. Set aside.
3. In a larger mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Whisk well. To this, add the wet ingredients. Stir until everything is incorporated.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

For the Orange Butter Frosting:
1. Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the orange juice,  vanilla extract and the orange zest. Beat well until smooth.

Based on a recipe from www.allrecipes.com.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Super-Soft Ensaymada

I was searching for ways to make a soft bread dough and I came across Kusina ni Manang’s Soft Ensaymada recipe. On her blog she shared the secrets of a soft dough – the addition of mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes to the recipe to retain the dough’s moisture, no kneading, and the use of shortening instead of butter.

So we tried her recipe yesterday and if you are looking for the softest bread, it would really not dissapoint. Taste-wise, you can adjust the amount of butter or margarine that you will spread on the rolls and put as much cheese as you want. The downside however was that the (uncooked) dough was so soft it was difficult to work on. And the time spent just for the dough to rise (excluding all the other preparations) was 4 hours in total! So you must plan your time well if you want to serve this.

We have yet to try the other half of the dough batch, which we made into our favorite, Cinnamon Rolls. It’s still on the fridge, already rolled and cling-wrapped. All we need to do is to thaw it a bit, let it rise for the last time and bake it in the oven for about 20-25 minutes! Yum!

Who wants to come and visit?

Cheers,
Jane